This makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Oh wait, how much coal did they have to
burn to generate the electricity to charge up the car? Oh, it doesn't
matter, as long as it makes me feel good. Seriously, what pollutes more,
efficient running cars, or burning coal to create the electricity to plug our
electric cars into? Nobody ever seems to bring this up. Almost all of the
electricity that Rocky Mtn Power makes, is from burning coal. Food for thought.

Well, whatever the cost is currently, it will indeed be
going up. Here's what Dear Leader said regarding energy:

"You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know
— Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would
NECESSARILY SKYROCKET. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good
or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know,
natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry
was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money.
They will pass that money on to consumers (emphasis mine)." -Barack
Obama

This is how Obama thanks all of you good people who went out
and bought electric cars! :-D

I'll wager you most
environmentalists have no idea where our electricity comes from. There about to
find out.

How much they charge is a good question. I guess between $10-$20/hr. They
can't allow 2 vehicles to hog the gas pumps all day long either when others
need to put a paper tiger in their tank. Its only fair that charging your car
should cost the same as or more than buying a 25 gal tank of gas. When the
government contracts convenience services to a specialty company we have to
expect it to cost 4 times more to justify these devices. Government can't
provide a service anymore, they have to sell their time and services to the tax
payers who paid them to do their jobs.

The good thing about selling
convenience, it makes the cheaper alternative of fossil fuels look a lot better
and why electric cars died on the chopping block in the ca. 1900. Another down
fall of electric cars, they have a short lifespan 10 yrs max and no resale or
trade in value for a $50k PC W/flashlight. At the end of their lives they become
hazardous waste, the batteries are not repairable and too expensive to replace,
accidents nullify battery warranties and car become a fire hazard.

2. Electric cars 110 years ago
used lead acid batteries, had a top speed of 15 mph, and a range of 4 miles.
[Model T's went 25 mph, at only 15mpg for 100 mile range -- the same as
today's electics --- my have things have changed and
"progressed"].

3. Most of the electricity produced in Salt
Lake by RMP is natural gas, not coal.

"coal is expected to provide 61 percent of the energy for our customers this
year"

I found this on the Rocky Mountain Energy web site. The
total is not broken down by state so Utah's coal use may be different. The
number can get confusing since some of our Utah coal fired power plants export
most of their electricity, to other states.

My guess is that clean
burning hybrids generate less total pollution than coal powered electric
vehicles. (An exception can probably be made for cars powered by solar panels,
but that gets complicated too.)

The good thing about electric cars
is that they export the air pollution out of Salt Lake Valley, which is good for
Salt Lakers, bad for the planet.

For those that only look at use of
carbon, a significant amount of Utah's electricity does come from
renewables, especially after considering hydroelectric. It takes a lot less
carbon to produce the electricity to drive a car, but most importantly coal
plants produce insignificant damaging pollutants into the air along the Wasatch
Front.

My Volt takes 10 kWs (around a $1) to go 35 miles on
electricity, and gets around 40 mpg there after. I suspect that a Leaf uses
around 2.5 kWs (around $2.5) of electricity to go 90 miles on electric-only
operation.

My "other car" is a GMC crew cab that I use to
haul my stuff and family on vacations and to move my stuff around.

In response to a couple people's comments above: There are more gasoline
cars that have caught fire (daily) then electric cars that have ever caught fire
(one - two weeks after a fed deliberate totaling of the car and no discharging
of the battery).

Just trying to do a little less damage to our
kids' lungs, and appreciate all that spend more to buy a NGV, electric,
hybrid or encourage cleaner gasoline...

"3. Most of the electricity produced in
Salt Lake by RMP is natural gas, not coal."

Okay, so please
explain why Obama has waged a war on the coal industry? Obama said "Under
my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily
skyrocket." This means the rates will be skyrocketing for those who own and
drive electric cars.

Like I said, Obama has shown his gratitude to
the electric car owners by implementing Cap & Trade. You just can't
make this stuff up. :-D

Since you asked, I am happy provide an answer.
Let's say that your daily commute is 50 miles, and your gasoline car gets
an impressive 30 mpg. According to EPA stats for our utility region (NWPP), the
greenhouse gases emitted per day, both upstream and from tailpipes, would be:

Your gas car: 40.82 lbs.An electric car: 14.33 lbs.

What people tend to forget is that oil refineries also use those same
coal-fired electric plants. It is much more efficient --and less polluting-- to
put that energy directly into a car's battery instead of using it to refine
and then burn gasoline.

I know it doesn't fit the Green Agenda, but the fact is,
electric cars are not "clean" and actually have a bigger footprint on
our environment than gas engines.

The production of hybrid and
electric cars, namely their batteries, produces much more pollution than those
of conventional gasoline powered vehicles. Unlike gas powered automobiles,
electric cars must have their large batteries replaced often. This creates the
problem of how to effectively recycle or discard these large batteries. Finally,
when you factor in the "pollution" created by the electricity needed to
run these little gems, well, they really aren't that green at all.

But as with all things, it isn't the results that the Left should
be judged on, it's their good intentions. Just like the good intentions of
wind farms screwing up the migratory patterns of birds and in fact killing
them.

Electric cars will have a far greater negative impact on our
environment than conventional gasoline powered cars ever will. Driving electric
cars is simply a way for self-righteous, smug environmentalists to feel good
about themselves.